Asking Britain's Strikers What They're So Mad About

Yesterday, public sector trade unions staged something that was hyped as the "biggest strike since 1926", but which definitely wasn't that. The 1926 general strike lasted ten days and an army of scab workers was deployed to keep the country running. What happened yesterday was a one day walk out that angered some parents whose children had a whole day off school – some of the kids were presumably delighted.

Still, hundreds of thousands of people who took part in rallies and marches across the UK. Teachers, council workers and firefighters were among those who sacked off work. They were protesting against their crappy wages and a 1 percent cap on public sector pay rises – which pretty much means a pay cut when you take inflation into consideration. Teachers and firefighters are also annoyed that they're going to have to work until they're older – the retirement age is rising to 68 for teachers and 60 for fire fighters, so I'll guess we'll see some hips popping while infernos are being fought before long.

Unsurprisingly, the government has attacked the strikes as "irresponsible" and pointed out that they were based on ballots conducted years ago that saw low turnouts from union members – basically saying that they were whipped up by a cabal of ultra-left trade union blowhards with no real democratic mandate. The Tories are planning to fix this by changing employment law so that 50 percent of union members balloted would have to vote for a strike before it could go ahead – a threshold that no cabinet member achieved at the last election.

I headed down to Trafalgar Square where a bunch of trade unionists were standing in the rain at a rally and listening to their leaders make speeches to ask them what the fuss was all about.

Tony Davis, 53, Dustman

VICE: Hi Tony, why are you on strike today?
Tony: Things have never been this bad. Never. We’re only asking for a pound an hour. That’s £7.40 a day, £37 a week: not much is it? The government can afford to pay us with all those pay rises they give themselves and everything else. Us poor little minions don’t get nothing do we?

Do your colleagues feel the same?
We had such a strong representation across our workforce that not one lorry went out of the depot today. Not one. We’re united, dustmen.

How much are you on?
About £23,000 a year. That’s not enough for the hard work we do. It’s really tough work, you know? We’re suffering because we’ve got one of the highest level of injuries in all of employment. It’s because of the miles we walk and lifting and all of that. We’re not reaching retirement age, we’re dropping out. We get sacked because we can’t do our job.

Do you think you could carry on until retirement?
Not until I’m 68 like the government want me to work. No way I could do that. No way. I’ll be dead before then. The job’s killing me now.

John Venn, 51, Fireman, pictured centre

Hi, so why are you here today?
John: Being a fireman is physically demanding. We have to keep ourselves fit for about 30, 40 years. To go on doing this every day until we’re 60 is just unworkable. They know we’ll be put out on disability before that. How many of us are going to last until we’re 60? Very few. We’re on the frontline here.

What do you think of the pay you’re on at the moment?
For a frontline fire fighter it’s £24,000. We pay £4,000 out of that into our pension. But it’s never enough money. Most of us have to live outside of London and deal with the high cost of travelling. I live out in Essex. It’s a struggle. Many people live a lot further than I do. Some of us are two, three hours away.

Russell Carr, 49, works on gallery floor at Tate Britain and Modern, pictured right

Why are you here today?
Russell: We’ve been on pay cap for the last three years at my gallery and in my culture sector. It’s just not sustainable for us as working people. We just can’t afford it. I’m here to help reignite that campaign.

What do you want to happen as a result of today?
To sit around the table and talk about it would be a start. At the moment, they’re refusing to even do that.

Is your wage a problem for you?
Yes, I’m only on £19,000! It’s the princely sum of £10.53 an hour but I’m alongside people who are on £7 or 8 an hour. I don’t know how they survive. I don’t even know how I survive! Personally, it’s really difficult to meet charges, rent, transport. I work overtime every week just to survive.

Nick Attree, 33, Secondary school teacher from Essex

Education Secretary Michael Gove said that striking will disrupt lessons. Aren't you screwing over your pupils a bit by striking?
Nick: The purpose of the strike is to cause disruption. That’s the only way to make our message heard. Okay, that might disrupt lessons today but in the grand scheme of things, the overall impact won’t be felt or on our pupils. Ultimately, we’re back in work tomorrow. Nobody thinks teachers can work until 68. Will Gove have to work until he’s 68? It’s very galling.

What do you think of him?
He has no experience of education. He didn’t even go to a state sector school. He went to a private boarding school in Scotland. He then worked in journalism and came into the education sector with absolutely no knowledge. It’s ridiculous.

Collette Williams, age disclosed, Teaching Assistant from Lambeth

VICE: So you feel your pay isn’t good enough.
Collette: NOT good enough! I have to struggle. I have to have two jobs even though I work full time. How can you be a full-time worker and that not be enough?

Is your work at the school hard?
Teaching Assistant’s job loads are just so much now. Yeah, teachers work very hard but we’re the backbone. I’m the backbone.

Michael Gove said the strikes are stopping kids getting educated.
It has! Of course. Parents can be annoyed and we can see where they’re coming from, OK? And it’s very hard. But at the same time, I’ve got to look after myself. It’s dog eat dog. That’s the world we’re living in. I’m a hard worker. Now, it’s my turn. It’s our turn.

What do you think of Michael Gove?
No comment. He chats a load of rubbish. They all do. Have you seen the amount of people here? He can see that we mean business. We mean it.

Allen Crow, 50, Railway engineer

Not many members of your union actually voted for this strike, because the turn out was so low. What do you think about that?
Allen: There’s a lack of activism and political organisation, which results in ballots like this. People that are angry and feel the cuts and can’t pay their bills but don’t do anything about it. They don’t get someone coming around telling them this ballot is all about that. All they get is a letter through your letterbox. Ballots don’t reflect the feeling.

What do you think of Conservatives wanting to make it more difficult for strikes like this to happen?
If they make it harder, we’ll just have to break the law. That’s your kids’ education you’re talking about. It’s your choice: break the law and defend your interests or don’t break the law and be stuck.

@hannahrosewens

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